Serving God and participating in His mission

Dear Christian,

I want to invite you to prayerfully and humbly consider the ways in which God is calling you to participate in His church, His kingdom and His mission.

First of all, God has invited all to come to Him, believe in Him, receive Him into their lives and receive the inheritance of the kingdom. This of course includes forgiveness, salvation and heaven. But it also includes so much more that He reveals and pours into our lives all along the way.

Secondly, God is calling us (as He has from the very beginning) to become “fishers of men”. God desires for us to join Him in His mission to “seek and to save the lost”. Many of us have heard this (perhaps many times) but the question is whether or not we are actually cooperating with Him in this co-mission?

You might ask how exactly you can help God? I want to give you 5 really simple things that each of us as Christians must do:

1. Go to church every chance that you get. Participate in every worship service, Bible study, and ministry that you can. Engage while you are there. Talk to people. Ask people about their lives and what God is doing. Answer questions. Sing with gusto. Listen carefully to the sermon/Bible study. Take notes.
2. Volunteer to serve at church. Not just one time per year. Do it as often as you can. Weekly is best because if you are joining God in His mission weekly, others are being helped and you yourself will be blessed (beyond what you think is possible). Volunteer even when it isn’t convenient. Pitch in and help out even if it challenges you. Go early and stay late and find joy in serving. Ask the pastor what you can do even when the church isn’t asking for volunteers.
3. Give to God, His church and other people. Give money. Give time. Give Bibles. Give tracts. Give out of your surplus. Give out of your lack. Give 10% tithe. Give offerings to missionaries. Donate food and clothing to the food pantry and clothing closet. Set aside some money and a tract to give to panhandlers. Have some extra gift cards in your wallet or purse or glove-box to give to random people, or families with young kids, or people who have been in the hospital, or someone who just lost their job.
4. Pray and read the Bible. Pray with people over the phone. And over text messaging, email and instant messaging. Share Scripture in person and online. Write down and memorize Scripture. Share Scripture cards with people. Encourage them with Scripture when they are down. Pray for them by name. Ask God for big miracles. Ask God to guide and source everything in your life. Realize that prayer and Bible study are so much more important than any other program.
5. Invite, invite, invite. To church. To Sunday School. To prayer meeting. Invite them to your house. Ask them about spiritual matters. Share with them the gospel. Invite them to Jesus. Never stop inviting. Invite as many people in as many ways as possible. Never give up on them. Never stop persevering. God can use your faithful loving invitations.

If you and I were to do these 5 things with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength…what might the outcome be? What if every person at church came every time the doors were open, gave sacrificially, invited all of their friends and neighbors and coworkers? What if every one of us read our Bible and prayed daily? What if every time we went to church we volunteered to do something that week for God’s church and mission?

Here is the harsh reality. Most of the time, we just aren’t really “all in” on joining God and His mission. I hope and pray that this serves as a catalyst for you and me to realize, there is a lot more I can be doing to go and make disciples.